Soybean variety 73444718

ABSTRACT

The soybean variety 73444718 is disclosed. The invention relates to seeds, plants, plant cells, plant tissue, harvested products and soybean lint as well as to hybrid soybean plants and seeds obtained by repeatedly crossing plants of variety 73444718 with other plants. The invention also relates to plants and varieties produced by the method of essential derivation from plants of 73444718 and to plants of 73444718 reproduced by vegetative methods, including but not limited to tissue culture of regenerable cells or tissue from 73444718.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No.62/948,853, filed on Dec. 17, 2019, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

FIELD

This invention relates to the field of plant breeding. Moreparticularly, the invention relates to a variety of soybean designatedas 73444718, its essentially derived varieties, and the hybrid varietiesobtained by crossing 73444718 as a parent line with plants of othervarieties or parent lines.

BACKGROUND

Soybean, Glycine max (L), is an important and valuable field crop. Thus,a continuing goal of soybean plant breeders is to develop stable, highyielding soybean varieties that are agronomically sound. The reasons forthis goal are obviously to maximize the amount of grain produced on theland used and to supply food for both animals and humans. To accomplishthis goal, the soybean breeder must select and develop soybean plantsthat have traits that result in superior varieties.

Due to the environment, the complexity of the structure of genes andlocation of a gene in the genome, among other factors, it is difficultto predict the phenotypic expression of a particular genotype. Inaddition, a plant breeder may only apply his skills on the phenotype andnot, or in a very limited way, on the level of the genotype. As aresult, a particular plant breeder cannot breed the same variety twiceusing the same parents and the same methodology. Thus, a newly bredvariety is an unexpected result of the breeding process. Indeed, eachvariety contains a unique combination of characteristics.

By carefully choosing the breeding parents, the breeding and selectionmethods, the testing layout and testing locations, the breeder may breeda particular variety type. In addition, a new variety may be tested inspecial comparative trials with other existing varieties in order todetermine whether the new variety meets the required expectations.

SUMMARY

The following embodiments and aspects thereof are described inconjunction with systems, tools and methods which are meant to beexemplary, not limiting in scope. In various embodiments, one or more ofthe above-described problems have been reduced or eliminated, whileother embodiments are directed to other improvements.

According to the invention, there is provided a new soybean varietydesignated 73444718. This invention thus relates to the seeds of soybeanvariety 73444718, to the plants of soybean variety 73444718, and tomethods for producing a soybean plant produced by crossing soybeanvariety 73444718 with itself or another soybean variety, and thecreation of variants by mutagenesis or transformation of soybean variety73444718.

Thus, any such methods using the soybean variety 73444718 are part ofthis invention: selfing, backcrosses, hybrid production, crosses topopulations, and the like. All plants produced using soybean variety73444718 as at least one parent are within the scope of this invention.Advantageously, this soybean variety could be used in crosses withother, different, soybean plants to produce first generation (F₁)soybean hybrid seeds and plants with superior characteristics.

In another aspect, the present invention provides for single or multiplegene converted plants of soybean variety 73444718. The transferredgene(s) may preferably be a dominant or recessive allele. Preferably,the transferred gene(s) will confer such traits as herbicide resistance,insect resistance, resistance for bacterial, fungal, or viral disease,male fertility, male sterility, enhanced nutritional quality, andindustrial usage. The gene may be a naturally occurring soybean gene ora transgene introduced through genetic engineering techniques.

In another aspect, the present invention provides regenerable cells foruse in tissue culture of soybean plant 73444718. The tissue culture willpreferably be capable of regenerating plants having all thephysiological and morphological characteristics of the foregoing soybeanplant, and of regenerating plants having substantially the same genotypeas the foregoing soybean plant. Preferably, the regenerable cells insuch tissue cultures will be embryos, protoplasts, meristematic cells,callus, pollen, leaves, anthers, cotyledons, hypocotyl, pistils, roots,root tips, flowers, seeds, petiole, pods or stems. Still further, thepresent invention provides soybean plants regenerated from the tissuecultures of the invention.

In addition to the exemplary aspects and embodiments described above,further aspects and embodiments will become apparent by study of thefollowing descriptions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to soybean variety 73444718. The varietyhas shown uniformity and stability, as described in the followingvariety description information. It has been self-pollinated asufficient number of generations with careful attention to uniformity ofplant type. The line has been increased with continued observation foruniformity.

Soybean variety 73444718 contains a transgene which confers resistanceto LIBERTYLINK® (active ingredient glufosinate) herbicide.

Soybean variety 73444718 has the following morphologic and othercharacteristics:

TABLE 1 PARAMETER VALUE Seed shape Seed coat color Yellow Seed coatluster Dull Seed size (grams/100 seed) 18.7 Hilum color Gray Cotyledoncolor Hypocotyl color Green Leaf shape Ovate Leaf color Flower colorWhite Pod color Tan Pubescence color Tawny Plant type Bushy Plant height(inches) 34 Plant habit Determinate Plant lodging Erect Maturity groupVI Maturity subgroup  5 DISEASE AND PEST REACTIONS Brown spot Frogeyeleaf spot Moderately Susceptible Stem canker Resistant Phytophthora rootrot Soybean cyst nematode Southern root knot nematode

This invention is also directed to methods for producing a soybean plantby crossing a first parent soybean plant with a second parent soybeanplant, wherein the first or second soybean plant is the soybean plantfrom soybean variety 73444718. Further, both first and second parentsoybean plants may be from soybean variety 73444718. Therefore, anymethods using soybean variety 73444718 are part of this invention:selfing, backcrosses, hybrid breeding, and crosses to populations. Anyplants produced using soybean variety 73444718 as at least one parentare within the scope of this invention.

Additional methods include but are not limited to expression vectorsintroduced into plant tissues using a direct gene transfer method suchas microprojectile-mediated delivery, DNA injection, electroporation andthe like. More preferably expression vectors are introduced into planttissues by using either microprojectile-mediated delivery with abiolistic device or by using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.Transformant plants obtained with the protoplasm of the invention areintended to be within the scope of this invention.

With the advent of molecular biological techniques that have allowed theisolation and characterization of genes that encode specific proteinproducts, scientists in the field of plant biology developed a stronginterest in engineering the genome of plants to contain and expressforeign genes, or additional, or modified versions of native, orendogenous, genes (perhaps driven by different promoters) in order toalter the traits of a plant in a specific manner. Such foreignadditional and/or modified genes are referred to herein collectively as“transgenes”. Over the last twenty years several methods for producingtransgenic plants have been developed and the present invention, inparticular embodiments, also relates to transformed versions of theclaimed variety or line.

Plant transformation involves the construction of an expression vectorwhich will function in plant cells. Such a vector comprises DNAcomprising a gene under the control of, or operatively linked to, aregulatory element (for example, a promoter). The expression vector maycontain one or more such operably linked gene/regulatory elementcombinations. The vector(s) may be in the form of a plasmid and can beused alone or in combination with other plasmids to provide transformedsoybean plants using transformation methods as described below toincorporate transgenes into the genetic material of the soybeanplant(s).

Expression Vectors for Soybean Transformation: Marker Genes

Expression vectors include at least one genetic marker operably linkedto a regulatory element (a promoter, for example) that allowstransformed cells containing the marker to be either recovered bynegative selection, i.e., inhibiting growth of cells that do not containthe selectable marker gene, or by positive selection, i.e., screeningfor the product encoded by the genetic marker. Many commonly usedselectable marker genes for plant transformation are well known in thetransformation arts, and include, for example, genes that code forenzymes that metabolically detoxify a selective chemical agent which maybe an antibiotic or an herbicide, or genes that encode an altered targetwhich is insensitive to the inhibitor. A few positive selection methodsare also known in the art.

One commonly used selectable marker gene for plant transformation is theneomycin phosphotransferase II (nptII) gene which, when under thecontrol of plant regulatory signals, confers resistance to kanamycin.Fraley et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 80:4803 (1983). Anothercommonly used selectable marker gene is the hygromycinphosphotransferase gene which confers resistance to the antibiotichygromycin. Vanden Elzen et al., Plant Mol. Biol., 5:299 (1985).

Additional selectable marker genes of bacterial origin that conferresistance to antibiotics include gentamycin acetyl transferase,streptomycin phosphotransferase and aminoglycoside-3′-adenyltransferase, the bleomycin resistance determinant (Hayford et al., PlantPhysiol. 86:1216 (1988), Jones et al., Mol. Gen. Genet., 210:86 (1987),Svab et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 14:197 (1990), Hille et al., Plant Mol.Biol. 7:171 (1986)). Other selectable marker genes confer resistance toherbicides such as glyphosate, glufosinate, bromoxynil, or HPPDinhibitors (Comai et al., Nature 317:741-744 (1985); Gordon-Kamm et al.,Plant Cell 2:603-618 (1990); Stalker et al., Science 242:419-423 (1988);and U.S Patent Publication 20120311743).

Selectable marker genes for plant transformation not of bacterial origininclude, for example, mouse dihydrofolate reductase, plant5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase and plant acetolactatesynthase (Eichholtz et al., Somatic Cell Mol. Genet. 13:67 (1987), Shahet al., Science 233:478 (1986), Charest et al., Plant Cell Rep. 8:643(1990)).

Another class of marker genes for plant transformation requiresscreening of presumptively transformed plant cells rather than directgenetic selection of transformed cells for resistance to a toxicsubstance such as an antibiotic. These genes are particularly useful toquantify or visualize the spatial pattern of expression of a gene inspecific tissues and are frequently referred to as reporter genesbecause they can be fused to a gene or gene regulatory sequence for theinvestigation of gene expression. Commonly used genes for screeningpresumptively transformed cells include β-glucuronidase (GUS),β-galactosidase, luciferase and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase(Jefferson, R. A., Plant Mol. Biol. Rep. 5:387 (1987), Teeri et al.,EMBO J. 8:343 (1989), Koncz et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84:131(1987), DeBlock et al., EMBO J. 3:1681 (1984)).

Further, a gene encoding Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) can be utilizedas a marker for gene expression in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells(Chalfie et al., Science 263:802 (1994)). GFP and mutants of GFP may beused as screenable markers.

Expression Vectors for Soybean Transformation: Promoters

Genes included in expression vectors must be driven by a nucleotidesequence comprising a regulatory element, for example, a promoter.Several types of promoters are well known in the transformation arts asare other regulatory elements that can be used alone or in combinationwith promoters.

As used herein, “promoter” includes reference to a region of DNAupstream from the start of transcription and involved in recognition andbinding of RNA polymerase and other proteins to initiate transcription.A “plant promoter” is a promoter capable of initiating transcription inplant cells. Examples of promoters under developmental control includepromoters that preferentially initiate transcription in certain tissues,such as leaves, roots, seeds, fibers, xylem vessels, tracheids, orsclerenchyma. Such promoters are referred to as “tissue-preferred”.Promoters that initiate transcription only in a certain tissue arereferred to as “tissue-specific”. A “cell-type” specific promoterprimarily drives expression in certain cell types in one or more organs,for example, vascular cells in roots or leaves. An “inducible” promoteris a promoter which is under environmental control. Examples ofenvironmental conditions that may affect transcription by induciblepromoters include anaerobic conditions or the presence of light.Tissue-specific, tissue-preferred, cell type specific, and induciblepromoters constitute the class of “non-constitutive” promoters. A“constitutive” promoter is a promoter that is active under mostenvironmental conditions.

A. Inducible Promoters—An inducible promoter is operably linked to agene for expression in soybean. Optionally, the inducible promoter isoperably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding a signal sequencewhich is operably linked to a gene for expression in soybean. With aninducible promoter the rate of transcription increases in response to aninducing agent.

Any inducible promoter can be used in the instant invention. See Ward etal., Plant Mol. Biol. 22:361-366 (1993). Exemplary inducible promotersinclude, but are not limited to, that from the ACEI system whichresponds to copper (Mett et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.90:4567-4571 (1993)); In2 gene from maize which responds tobenzenesulfonamide herbicide safeners (Hershey et al., Mol. Gen Genetics227:229-237 (1991) and Gatz et al., Mol. Gen. Genetics 243:32-38 (1994))or Tet repressor from Tn10 (Gatz et al., Mol. Gen. Genetics 227:229-237(1991)). A particularly preferred inducible promoter is a promoter thatresponds to an inducing agent to which plants do not normally respond.An exemplary inducible promoter is the inducible promoter from a steroidhormone gene, the transcriptional activity of which is induced by aglucocorticosteroid hormone (Schena et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA88:0421 (1991)).

B. Constitutive Promoters—A constitutive promoter is operably linked toa gene for expression in soybean or the constitutive promoter isoperably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding a signal sequencewhich is operably linked to a gene for expression in soybean.

Many different constitutive promoters can be utilized in the instantinvention. Exemplary constitutive promoters include, but are not limitedto, the promoters from plant viruses such as the 35S promoter from CaMV(Odell et al., Nature 313:810-812 (1985)) and the promoters from suchgenes as rice actin (McElroy et al., Plant Cell 2: 163-171 (1990));ubiquitin (Christensen et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 12:619-632 (1989) andChristensen et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 18:675-689 (1992)); pEMU (Last etal., Theor. Appl. Genet. 81:581-588 (1991)); MAS (Velten et al., EMBO J.3:2723-2730 (1984)) and maize H3 histone (Lepetit et al., Mol. Gen.Genetics 231:276-285 (1992) and Atanassova et al., Plant Journal 2 (3):291-300 (1992)). The ALS promoter, Xba1/NcoI fragment 5′ to the Brassicanapus ALS3 structural gene (or a nucleotide sequence similarity to saidXba1/NcoI fragment), represents a particularly useful constitutivepromoter. See PCT application WO 96/30530.

C. Tissue-specific or Tissue-preferred Promoters—A tissue-specificpromoter is operably linked to a gene for expression in soybean.Optionally, the tissue-specific promoter is operably linked to anucleotide sequence encoding a signal sequence which is operably linkedto a gene for expression in soybean. Plants transformed with a gene ofinterest operably linked to a tissue-specific promoter produce theprotein product of the transgene exclusively, or preferentially, in aspecific tissue.

Any tissue-specific or tissue-preferred promoter can be utilized in theinstant invention. Exemplary tissue-specific or tissue-preferredpromoters include, but are not limited to, a root-preferred promotersuch as that from the phaseolin gene (Murai et al., Science 23:476-482(1983) and Sengupta-Gopalan et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA82:3320-3324 (1985)); a leaf-specific and light-induced promoter such asthat from cab or rubisco (Simpson et al., EMBO J. 4(11):2723-2729 (1985)and Timko et al., Nature 318:579-582 (1985)); an anther-specificpromoter such as that from LAT52 (Twell et al., Mol. Gen. Genetics217:240-245 (1989)); a pollen-specific promoter such as that from Zm13(Guerrero et al., Mol. Gen. Genetics 244:161-168 (1993)) or amicrospore-preferred promoter such as that from apg (Twell et al., Sex.Plant Reprod. 6:217-224 (1993)).

Signal Sequences for Targeting Proteins to Subcellular Compartments

Transport of protein produced by transgenes to a subcellular compartmentsuch as the chloroplast, vacuole, peroxisome, glyoxysome, cell wall ormitochondrion or for secretion into the apoplast, is accomplished bymeans of operably linking the nucleotide sequence encoding a signalsequence to the 5′ and/or 3′ region of a gene encoding the protein ofinterest. Targeting sequences at the 5′ and/or 3′ end of the structuralgene may determine during protein synthesis and processing where theencoded protein is ultimately compartmentalized.

The presence of a signal sequence directs a polypeptide to either anintracellular organelle or subcellular compartment or for secretion tothe apoplast. Many signal sequences are known in the art. See, forexample, Becker et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 20:49 (1992); Close, P. S.,Master's Thesis, Iowa State University (1993); Knox, C., et al., PlantMol. Biol. 9:3-17 (1987); Lerner et al., Plant Physiol. 91:124-129(1989); Frontes et al., Plant Cell 3:483-496 (1991); Matsuoka et al.,Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 88:834 (1991); Gould et al., J. Cell. Biol.108:1657 (1989); Creissen et al., Plant J. 2:129 (1991); Kalderon, etal., Cell 39:499-509 (1984); Steifel, et al., Plant Cell 2:785-793(1990).

Foreign Protein Genes and Agronomic Genes

With transgenic plants according to the present invention, a foreignprotein can be produced in commercial quantities. Thus, techniques forthe selection and propagation of transformed plants, which are wellunderstood in the art, yield a plurality of transgenic plants which areharvested in a conventional manner, and a foreign protein then can beextracted from a tissue of interest or from total biomass. Proteinextraction from plant biomass can be accomplished by known methods whichare discussed, for example, by Heney and Orr, Anal. Biochem. 114:92-6(1981).

According to a preferred embodiment, the transgenic plant provided forcommercial production of foreign protein is a soybean plant. In anotherpreferred embodiment, the biomass of interest is seed. For therelatively small number of transgenic plants that show higher levels ofexpression, a genetic map can be generated, primarily via conventionalRFLP, PCR and SSR analysis, which identifies the approximate chromosomallocation of the integrated DNA molecule. For exemplary methodologies inthis regard, see Glick and Thompson, Methods in Plant Molecular Biologyand Biotechnology, CRC Press, Boca Raton 269:284 (1993). Map informationconcerning chromosomal location is useful for proprietary protection ofa subject transgenic plant. If unauthorized propagation is undertakenand crosses made with other germplasm, the map of the integration regioncan be compared to similar maps for suspect plants, to determine if thelatter have a common parentage with the subject plant. Map comparisonswould involve hybridizations, RFLP, PCR, SSR and sequencing, all ofwhich are conventional techniques.

Likewise, by means of the present invention, agronomic genes can beexpressed in transformed plants. More particularly, plants can begenetically engineered to express various phenotypes of agronomicinterest. In various embodiments, the soybean plant of the inventionfurther comprises one or more additional genes for insect resistance(e.g., Cry1, such as members of the Cry1A, Cry1B, Cry1C, Cry1D, Cry1E,and Cry1F families; Cry2, such as members of the Cry2A family; Cry9,such as members of the Cry9A, Cry9B, Cry9C, Cry9D, Cry9E, and Cry9Ffamilies, through the Cry72 families; etc., or any of the toxins listedon Crickmore et al. (2003) “Bacillus thuringiensis toxin nomenclature,”at www.biols.susx.ac.uk/Home/Neil_Crickmore/Bt/index). It will beunderstood by one of skill in the art that the transgenic plant maycomprise any gene imparting an agronomic trait of interest. Additionalgenes implicated in this regard include, but are not limited to, thosereferenced in the patent publications listed in Table 2, each of whichis incorporated by reference in its entirety:

TABLE 2 Trait Reference Water use efficiency WO2000/073475 WO2009/150541WO2009/150541 WO2012075429 WO2012077020 Nitrogen use efficiencyWO1995/009911 WO1997/030163 WO2007/092704 WO2007/076115 WO2005/103270WO2002/002776 WO2008/051608 WO2008/112613 WO2009/015096 WO2009/061776WO2009/105492 WO2009/105612 WO2009/117853 WO2010/006010 WO2009/117853WO2009/061776 WO2009/015096 WO2009/105492 WO2009/105612 WO2010/053621WO2010/053867 WO2010/077890 WO2010/086220 WO2010/111568 WO2010/140388WO2010/007496 WO2011/022597 WO2011/022608 WO2012087140 Improvedphotosynthesis WO2008/056915 WO2004/101751 Nematode resistanceWO1995/020669 WO2001/051627 WO2008/139334 WO2008/095972 WO2006/085966WO2003/033651 WO1999/060141 WO1998/012335 WO1996/030517 WO1993/018170WO2008/095886 WO2008/095887 WO2008/095888 WO2008/095889 WO2008/095910WO2008/095911 WO2008/095916 WO2008/095919 WO2008/095969 WO2008/095970WO2008/095972 WO2008/110522 WO2008/139334 WO2008/152008 WO2010/077858WO2010/091230 WO2010/102172 WO2010/106163 WO2011/082217 WO2011/003783Reduced pod dehiscence WO2006/009649 WO2004/113542 WO1999/015680WO1999/000502 WO1997/013865 WO1996/030529 WO1994/023043 Aphid resistanceWO2006/125065 WO1997/046080 WO2008/067043 WO2004/072109 WO2009/091860WO2010036764 Sclerotinia resistance WO2006/135717 WO2006/055851WO2005/090578 WO2005/000007 WO2002/099385 WO2002/061043 Bremiaresistance US 20070022496 WO2000/063432 WO2004/049786 WO2009/111627WO2009/111627 Erwinia resistance WO2004/049786 Closterovirus resistanceWO2007/073167 WO2007/053015 WO2002/022836 Stress tolerance (includingWO2010/019838 drought tolerance) WO2009/049110 WO2008/002480WO2005/033318 WO2008/002480 WO2008/005210 WO2008/006033 WO2008/008779WO2008/022486 WO2008/025097 WO2008/027534 WO2008/027540 WO2008/037902WO2008/046069 WO2008/053487 WO2008/057642 WO2008/061240 WO2008/064222WO2008/064341 WO2008/073617 WO2008/074025 WO2008/076844 WO2008/096138WO2008/110848 WO2008/116829 WO2008/117537 WO2008/121320 WO2008/125245WO2008/142034 WO2008/142036 WO2008/150165 WO2008/092935 WO2008/145675WO2009/010460 WO2009/016240 WO2009/031664 WO2009/038581 WO2009/049110WO2009/053511 WO2009/054735 WO2009/067580 WO2009/073605 WO2009/077611WO2009/079508 WO2009/079529 WO2009/083958 WO2009/086229 WO2009/092009WO2009/094401 WO2009/094527 WO2009/102965 WO2009/114733 WO2009/117448WO2009/126359 WO2009/126462 WO2009/129162 WO2009/132057 WO2009/141824WO2009/148330 WO2010/055024 WO2010/058428 WO2010/064934 WO2010/076756WO2010/083178 WO2010/086221 WO2010/086277 WO2010/101818 WO2010/104848WO2010/118338 WO2010/120017 WO2010/120054 WO2010/121316 WO2010/127579WO2010/134654 WO2010/139993 WO2010/039750 WO2011/034968 WO2011/001286WO2011/017492 WO2011/018662 WO2011/024065 WO2011/038389 WO2011/46772WO2011/053897 WO2011/052169 WO2011/063706 WO2011/067745 WO2011/079277WO2011/080674 WO2011/083290 WO2011/083298 WO2011/091764 WO2011/052169WO2011/053897 WO2011/056769 WO2011/063706 WO2011/067745 WO2011/083290WO2011/083298 WO2011/091764 WO2011/096609 WO2011/122761 Tobamovirusresistance WO2006/038794 WO2009086850 Yield WO2010/046221 WO2010/046471WO2010/049897 WO2010/055837 WO2010/065867 WO2010/069847 WO2010/075143WO2010/075243 WO2010/100595 WO2010/102220 WO2010/104092 WO2010/108836WO2010/120862 WO2010/123667 WO2010/124953 WO2010/125036 WO2010/127969WO2010/129501 WO2010/140388 WO2010/140672 WO2011/011273 WO2011/000466WO2011/003800 WO2011/006717 WO2011/008510 WO2011/009801 WO2011/011412WO2011/015985 WO2011/020746 WO2011/021190 WO2011/025514 WO2011/025515WO2011/025516 WO2011/025840 WO2011/031680 WO2011/036160 WO2011/036232WO2011/041796 WO2011/044254 WO2011/048009 WO2011/053898 WO2011/051120WO2011/058029 WO2011/061656 WO2011/085062 WO2011/088065 WO2011/053898WO2011/058029 WO2011/061656 WO2011/085062 WO2011/088065 WO2011/095958WO2011/097215 WO2011/099006 WO2011/104128 WO2011/104141 WO2011/104143WO2011/104155 WO2011/106734 WO2011/106794 WO2011/109661 WO2011/114279WO2011/114305 WO2011/114312 WO2011/114313 WO2011/117800 WO2011/135527WO2011/136909 WO2011/139431 WO2011/140329 WO2011/146754 WO2011/147826WO2011/157976 WO2011/161617 WO2011/161620 WO2011/109618 WO2011/159452WO2012078949 WO2012083219 WO2012084742 WO2012084756 WO2012087903WO2012087940 WO2012090500 WO2012091939 WO2012092106 WO2012092327WO2012092573 WO2012092580 WO2012092596 WO2012093032 WO2012093833WO2012097720 WO2012098517 WO2012102999 WO2012106321 Oilcontent/composition WO2010/045324 WO2010/053541 WO2010/130725WO2010/140682 WO2011/006948 WO2011/049627 WO2011/060946 WO2011/062748WO2011/064181 WO2011/064183 WO2011/075716 WO2011/079005 WO2011/049627WO2011/062748 WO2011/064181 WO2011/064183 WO2011/079005 WO2011/146524WO2011/161093 WO2011/163557 WO2011/163632 WO2011/163632 WO2012074385WO2012074386 WO2012103452 Biopharmaceutical WO2010/121818 productionWO2011/119115 Improved recombination WO2010/071418 WO2010/133616 plantappearance WO2010/069004 WO2011/060552 Disease control (other)WO2010/059558 WO2010/075352 WO2010/075498 WO2010/085289 WO2010/085295WO2010/085373 WO2009/000736 WO2009/065863 WO2009/112505 WO2010/089374WO2010/120452 WO2010/123904 WO2010/135782 WO2011/025860 WO2011/041256WO2011/031006 WO2011/031922 WO2011/075584 WO2011/075585 WO2011/075586WO2011/075587 WO2011/075588 WO2011/084622 WO2011/084626 WO2011/084627WO2011/084629 WO2011/084630 WO2011/084631 WO2011/084314 WO2011/084324WO2011/023571 WO2011/040880 WO2011/082304 WO2011/003783 WO2011/020797WO2011/069953 WO2011/075584 WO2011/075585 WO2011/075586 WO2011/075587WO2011/075588 WO2011/084314 WO2011/084324 WO2011/084622 WO2011/084626WO2011/084627 WO2011/084629 WO2011/084630 WO2011/084631 WO2011/133892WO2011/133895 WO2011/133896 WO2011/082217 WO2011/104153 WO2011/082304WO2011/100650 WO2011/158242 WO2012003207 WO2012004013 WO2012004401WO2012006271 WO2012006426 WO2012006439 WO2012006443 WO2012006622WO2012007916 WO2012007919 WO2012009551 WO2012011034 WO2012012403WO2012015039 WO2012058266 WO2012058458 WO2012058528 WO2012058730WO2012061513 WO2012063200 WO2012065166 WO2012065219 WO2012066008WO2012067127 WO2012068966 WO2012071039 WO2012071040 Herbicide toleranceUS 4761373 US 5304732 US 5331107 US 5718079 US 6211438 US 6211439 US6222100 US 2003/0217381 US 2003/0217381 WO2004/106529 WO2000/27182WO2005/20673 WO2001/85970 US 5545822 US 5736629 US 5773703 US 5773704 US5952553 US 6274796 WO2004/106529 WO2004/16073 WO2003/14357 WO2003/13225WO2003/14356 US 5188642 US 4940835 US 5633435 US 5804425 US 5627061 US5646024 US 5561236 US 6333449 US 6933111 US 6468747 US 6376754 US7105724 US 7105724 WO2008/051633 US 7105724 US 5670454 US 7105724 US7105724 US 7105724 US 7105724 US 5670454 US 7105724 US 7105724 US7105724 US 5670454 US 7105724 US 7105724 US 7105724 US 7105724 US6153401 US 6100446 WO2005/107437 US 5670454 US 5608147 US 5670454WO2004/055191 WO199638567 US 6791014 US 2002/0073443 US 20080052798WO2011/022470 WO2011/034936 WO2011/028832 WO2011/028833 WO2011/028836WO2011/068567 WO2011/076345 WO2011/085221 WO2011/094199 WO2011/094205WO2011/068567 WO2011/085221 WO2011/094199 WO2011/094205 WO2011/145015WO2012047595 WO2012048124 WO2012048136 WO2012048807 WO2012049663WO2012050962 WO2012056401 WO2012057466 WO2012057465 WO2012058223 plantmetabolism WO2011/060920 WO2011/119115 WO2011/102394 reproductionWO2011/113839 Biofuels WO2012073493

Additional agronomic traits of interest include the following:

1. Genes that Confer Resistance to Pests or Disease and that Encode:

A. Plant disease resistance genes. Plant defenses are often activated byspecific interaction between the product of a disease resistance gene(R) in the plant and the product of a corresponding avirulence (Avr)gene in the pathogen. A plant variety can be transformed with one ormore cloned resistance genes to engineer plants that are resistant tospecific pathogen strains. See, for example Jones et al., Science266:789 (1994) (cloning of the tomato Cf-9 gene for resistance toCladosporium fulvum); Martin et al., Science 262:1432 (1993) (tomato Ptogene for resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato encodes a proteinkinase); Mindrinos et al. Cell 78:1089 (1994) (Arabidopsis RSP2 gene forresistance to Pseudomonas syringae).

B. A gene conferring resistance to a pest, such as soybean cystnematode. See e.g., PCT Application WO 96/30517; PCT Application WO93/19181.

C. A Bacillus thuringiensis protein, a derivative thereof or a syntheticpolypeptide modeled thereon. See, for example, Geiser et al., Gene48:109 (1986), who disclose the cloning and nucleotide sequence of a Btδ-endotoxin gene. Moreover, DNA molecules encoding δ-endotoxin genes canbe purchased from American Type Culture Collection, Manassas, Va., forexample, under ATCC Accession Nos. 40098, 67136, 31995 and 31998.

D. A lectin. See, for example, Van Damme et al., Plant Molec. Biol.24:25 (1994), who disclose the nucleotide sequences of several Cliviaminiata mannose-binding lectin genes.

E. A vitamin-binding protein such as avidin. See PCT application US93/06487 which teaches the use of avidin and avidin homologues aslarvicides against insect pests.

F. An enzyme inhibitor, for example, a protease or proteinase inhibitoror an amylase inhibitor. See, for example, Abe et al., J. Biol. Chem.262:16793 (1987) (nucleotide sequence of rice cysteine proteinaseinhibitor), Huub et al., Plant Molec. Biol. 21:985 (1993) (nucleotidesequence of cDNA encoding tobacco proteinase inhibitor I), Sumitani etal., Biosci. Biotech. Biochem. 57:1243 (1993) (nucleotide sequence ofStreptomyces nitrosporeus α-amylase inhibitor) and U.S. Pat. No.5,494,813 (Hepher and Atkinson, issued Feb. 27, 1996).

G. An insect-specific hormone or pheromone such as an ecdysteroid orjuvenile hormone, a variant thereof, a mimetic based thereon, or anantagonist or agonist thereof. See, for example, the disclosure byHammock et al., Nature 344:458 (1990), of baculovirus expression ofcloned juvenile hormone esterase, an inactivator of juvenile hormone.

H. An insect-specific peptide or neuropeptide which, upon expression,disrupts the physiology of the affected pest. For example, see thedisclosures of Regan, J. Biol. Chem. 269:9 (1994) (expression cloningyields DNA coding for insect diuretic hormone receptor), and Pratt etal., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 163:1243 (1989) (an allostatin isidentified in Diploptera puntata). See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,317 toTomalski et al., which discloses genes encoding insect-specific,paralytic neurotoxins.

I. An insect-specific venom produced in nature by a snake, a wasp, etc.For example, see Pang et al., Gene 116:165 (1992), for disclosure ofheterologous expression in plants of a gene coding for a scorpioninsectotoxic peptide.

J. An enzyme responsible for a hyperaccumulation of a monoterpene, asesquiterpene, a steroid, hydroxamic acid, a phenylpropanoid derivativeor another non-protein molecule with insecticidal activity.

K. An enzyme involved in the modification, including thepost-translational modification, of a biologically active molecule; forexample, a glycolytic enzyme, a proteolytic enzyme, a lipolytic enzyme,a nuclease, a cyclase, a transaminase, an esterase, a hydrolase, aphosphatase, a kinase, a phosphorylase, a polymerase, an elastase, achitinase and a glucanase, whether natural or synthetic. See PCTapplication WO 93/02197 (Scott et al.), which discloses the nucleotidesequence of a callase gene. DNA molecules which containchitinase-encoding sequences can be obtained, for example, from the ATCCunder Accession Nos. 39637 and 67152. See also Kramer et al., InsectBiochem. Molec. Biol. 23:691 (1993), who teach the nucleotide sequenceof a cDNA encoding tobacco hornworm chitinase, and Kawalleck et al.,Plant Molec. Biol. 21:673 (1993), who provide the nucleotide sequence ofthe parsley ubi4-2 polyubiquitin gene.

L. A molecule that stimulates signal transduction. For example, see thedisclosure by Botella et al., Plant Molec. Biol. 24:757 (1994), ofnucleotide sequences for mung bean calmodulin cDNA clones, and Griess etal., Plant Physiol. 104:1467 (1994), who provide the nucleotide sequenceof a maize calmodulin cDNA clone.

M. A hydrophobic moment peptide. See PCT application WO 95/16776, whichdiscloses peptide derivatives of tachyplesin which inhibit fungal plantpathogens, and PCT application WO 95/18855 which teaches syntheticantimicrobial peptides that confer disease resistance.

N. A membrane permease, a channel former or a channel blocker. Forexample, see the disclosure of Jaynes et al., Plant Sci 89:43 (1993), ofheterologous expression of a cecropin-β lytic peptide analog to rendertransgenic tobacco plants resistant to Pseudomonas solanacearum.

O. A viral-invasive protein or a complex toxin derived therefrom. Forexample, the accumulation of viral coat proteins in transformed plantcells imparts resistance to viral infection and/or disease developmenteffected by the virus from which the coat protein gene is derived, aswell as by related viruses. See Beachy et al., Ann. Rev. Phytopathol.28:451 (1990). Coat protein-mediated resistance has been conferred upontransformed plants against alfalfa mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virusand tobacco mosaic virus.

P. An insect-specific antibody or an immunotoxin derived therefrom.Thus, an antibody targeted to a critical metabolic function in theinsect gut would inactivate an affected enzyme, killing the insect. SeeTaylor et al., Abstract #497, Seventh Int'l Symposium on MolecularPlant-Microbe Interactions (Edinburgh, Scotland) (1994) (enzymaticinactivation in transgenic tobacco via production of single-chainantibody fragments).

Q. A virus-specific antibody. See, for example, Tavladoraki et al.,Nature 366:469 (1993), who show that transgenic plants expressingrecombinant antibody genes are protected from virus attack.

R. A developmental-arrestive protein produced in nature by a pathogen ora parasite. Thus, fungal endo-α-1,4-D-polygalacturonases facilitatefungal colonization and plant nutrient release by solubilizing plantcell wall homo-α-1,4-D-galacturonase. See Lamb et al., Bio/Technology10:1436 (1992). The cloning and characterization of a gene which encodesa bean endopolygalacturonase-inhibiting protein is described by Toubartet al., Plant J. 2:367 (1992).

S. A developmental-arrestive protein produced in nature by a plant. Forexample, Logemann et al., Bio/Technology 10:305 (1992), have shown thattransgenic plants expressing the barley ribosome-inactivating gene havean increased resistance to fungal disease.

T. Genes involved in the Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) Responseand/or the pathogenesis-related genes. Briggs, S., Current Biology, 5(2)(1995).

U. Antifungal genes. See Cornelissen and Melchers, Plant Physiol.,101:709-712 (1993); Parijs et al., Planta 183:258-264 (1991) andBushnell et al., Can. J. of Plant Path. 20(2):137-149 (1998).

V. Genes that confer resistance to Phytophthora root rot, such as theRps 1, Rps 1-a, Rps 1-b, Rps 1-c, Rps 1-d, Rps 1-e, Rps 1-k, Rps 2, Rps3-a, Rps 3-b, Rps 3-c, Rps 4, Rps 5, Rps 6, Rps 7 and other Rps genes.See, for example, Shoemaker et al., Phytophthora Root Rot ResistanceGene Mapping in Soybean, Plant Genome IV Conference, San Diego, Calif.(1995).

2. Genes that Confer Resistance to an Herbicide, for Example:

A. An herbicide that inhibits the growing point or meristem, such as animidazolinone or a sulfonylurea. Exemplary genes in this category codefor mutant ALS and AHAS enzyme as described, for example, by Lee et al.,EMBO J. 7:1241 (1988), and Miki et al., Theor. Appl. Genet. 80:449(1990), respectively.

B. Glyphosate (resistance conferred by mutant5-enolpyruvlshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) and aroA genes,respectively) and other phosphono compounds such as glufosinate(phosphinothricin acetyl transferase (PAT) and Streptomyceshygroscopicus PAT bar genes), and pyridinoxy or phenoxy proprionic acidsand cyclohexones (ACCase inhibitor-encoding genes). See, for example,U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,835 to Shah, et al., which discloses the nucleotidesequence of a form of EPSPS which can confer glyphosate resistance. ADNA molecule encoding a mutant aroA gene can be obtained under ATCCaccession number 39256, and the nucleotide sequence of the mutant geneis disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,061 to Comai. European patentapplication No. 0 333 033 to Kumada et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,374to Goodman et al., disclose nucleotide sequences of glutamine synthetasegenes which confer resistance to herbicides such as L-phosphinothricin.The nucleotide sequence of a PAT gene is provided in Europeanapplication No. 0 242 246 to Leemans et al. DeGreef et al.,Bio/Technology 7:61 (1989) describe the production of transgenic plantsthat express chimeric bar genes coding for phosphinothricin acetyltransferase activity. Exemplary of genes conferring resistance tophenoxy proprionic acids and cyclohexones, such as sethoxydim andhaloxyfop are the Acc1-S1, Acc1-S2, and Acc2-S3 genes described byMarshall et al., Theor. Appl. Genet. 83:435 (1992).

C. An herbicide that inhibits photosynthesis, such as a triazine (psbAand gs+ genes) or a benzonitrile (nitrilase gene). Przibila et al.,Plant Cell 3:169 (1991), describe the transformation of Chlamydomonaswith plasmids encoding mutant psbA genes. Nucleotide sequences fornitrilase genes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,648 to Stalker andDNA molecules containing these genes are available under ATCC AccessionNos. 53435, 67441 and 67442. Cloning and expression of DNA coding for aglutathione S-transferase is described by Hayes et al., Biochem. J.285:173 (1992).

D. Acetohydroxy acid synthase, which has been found to make plants thatexpress this enzyme resistant to multiple types of herbicides, has beenintroduced into a variety of plants. See Hattori et al., Mol. Gen.Genet. 246:419, 1995. Other genes that confer tolerance to herbicidesinclude a gene encoding a chimeric protein of rat cytochrome P4507A1 andyeast NADPH-cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (Shiota et al., PlantPhysiol., 106:17, 1994), genes for glutathione reductase and superoxidedismutase (Aono et al., Plant Cell Physiol. 36:1687, 1995), and genesfor various phosphotransferases (Datta et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 20:619,1992).

E. Protoporphyrinogen oxidase (protox) is necessary for the productionof chlorophyll, which is necessary for all plant survival. The protoxenzyme serves as the target for a variety of herbicidal compounds. Theseherbicides also inhibit growth of all the different species of plantspresent, causing their total destruction. The development of plantscontaining altered protox activity which are resistant to theseherbicides are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,288,306; 6,282,837;5,767,373; and international publication WO 01/12825.

F. Genes that confer resistance to HPPD inhibitors, such as anN-(tetrazol-4-yl)- or N-(triazol-3-yl)arylcarboxamide, anN-(1,2,5-oxadiazol-3-yl)benzamide, tembotrione, sulcotrione,topramezone, bicyclopyrone, tefuryltrione, isoxaflutole, pyrasulfotole,and mesotrione.

3. Genes that Confer or Contribute to a Value-Added Trait, such as:

A. Modified fatty acid metabolism, for example, by transforming a plantwith an antisense gene of stearyl-ACP desaturase to increase stearicacid content of the plant. See Knultzon et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.USA 89:2625 (1992).

B. Decreased phytate content—1) Introduction of a phytase-encoding geneenhances breakdown of phytate, adding more free phosphate to thetransformed plant. For example, see Van Hartingsveldt et al., Gene127:87 (1993), for a disclosure of the nucleotide sequence of anAspergillus niger phytase gene. 2) A gene could be introduced thatreduced phytate content. This could be accomplished by cloning and thenreintroducing DNA associated with the single allele which is responsiblefor maize mutants characterized by low levels of phytic acid. See Raboyet al., Maydica 35:383 (1990).

C. Modified carbohydrate composition effected, for example, bytransforming plants with a gene coding for an enzyme that alters thebranching pattern of starch. See Shiroza et al., J. Bacteriol. 170:810(1988) (nucleotide sequence of Streptococcus mutantsfructosyltransferase gene), Steinmetz et al., Mol. Gen. Genet. 20:220(1985) (nucleotide sequence of Bacillus subtilis levansucrase gene), Penet al., Bio/Technology 10:292 (1992) (production of transgenic plantsthat express Bacillus licheniformis α-amylase), Elliot et al., PlantMolec. Biol. 21:515 (1993) (nucleotide sequences of tomato invertasegenes), SOgaard et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268:22480 (1993) (site-directedmutagenesis of barley α-amylase gene), and Fisher et al., Plant Physiol.102:1045 (1993) (maize endosperm starch branching enzyme II).

D. Elevated oleic acid via FAD-2 gene modification and/or decreasedlinolenic acid via FAD-3 gene modification. See U.S. Pat. Nos.6,063,947; 6,323,392; and international publication WO 93/11245.

4. Genes that Control Male Sterility

A. Introduction of a deacetylase gene under the control of atapetum-specific promoter and with the application of the chemicalN—Ac-PPT. See international publication WO 01/29237.

B. Introduction of various stamen-specific promoters. See internationalpublications WO 92/13956 and WO 92/13957.

C. Introduction of the barnase and the barstar genes. See Paul et al.,Plant Mol. Biol. 19:611-622, 1992).

Methods for Soybean Transformation

Numerous methods for plant transformation have been developed includingbiological and physical plant transformation protocols. See, forexample, Miki et al., “Procedures for Introducing Foreign DNA intoPlants” in Methods in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Glick,B. R. and Thompson, J. E. Eds. (CRC Press, Inc. Boca Raton, 1993) pages67-88. In addition, expression vectors and in-vitro culture methods forplant cell or tissue transformation and regeneration of plants areavailable. See, for example, Gruber et al., “Vectors for PlantTransformation” in Methods in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology,Glick, B. R. and Thompson, J. E. Eds. (CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton,1993) pages 89-119.

A. Agrobacterium-mediated Transformation—One method for introducing anexpression vector into plants is based on the natural transformationsystem of Agrobacterium. See, for example, Horsch et al., Science227:1229 (1985). A. tumefaciens and A. rhizogenes are plant pathogenicsoil bacteria which genetically transform plant cells. The Ti and Riplasmids of A. tumefaciens and A. rhizogenes, respectively, carry genesresponsible for genetic transformation of the plant. See, for example,Kado, C. I., Crit. Rev. Plant Sci. 10:1 (1991). Descriptions ofAgrobacterium vector systems and methods for Agrobacterium-mediated genetransfer are provided by Gruber et al., supra, Miki et al., supra andMoloney et al., Plant Cell Reports 8:238 (1989). See also, U.S. Pat. No.5,563,055 (Townsend and Thomas), issued Oct. 8, 1996.

B. Direct Gene Transfer—Several methods of plant transformation,collectively referred to as direct gene transfer, have been developed asan alternative to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. A generallyapplicable method of plant transformation is microprojectile-mediatedtransformation where DNA is carried on the surface of microprojectilesmeasuring 1 to 4 μm. The expression vector is introduced into planttissues with a biolistic device that accelerates the microprojectiles tospeeds of 300 to 600 m/s which is sufficient to penetrate plant cellwalls and membranes. Sanford et al., Part. Sci. Technol. 5:27 (1987);Sanford, J. C., Trends Biotech. 6:299 (1988); Klein et al., Bio/Tech.6:559-563 (1988); Sanford, J. C. Physiol Plant 7:206 (1990); Klein etal., Biotechnology 10:268 (1992). See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,580(Christou, et al.), issued May 14, 1991 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,783(Tomes, et al.), issued Jun. 21, 1994.

Another method for physical delivery of DNA to plants is sonication oftarget cells. Zhang et al., Bio/Technology 9:996 (1991). Alternatively,liposome and spheroplast fusion have been used to introduce expressionvectors into plants. Deshayes et al., EMBO J., 4:2731 (1985); Christouet al., Proc Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84:3962 (1987). Direct uptake of DNAinto protoplasts using CaCl.sub.2 precipitation, polyvinyl alcohol orpoly-L-ornithine has also been reported. Hain et al., Mol. Gen. Genet199:161 (1985) and Draper et al., Plant Cell Physiol. 23:451 (1982).Electroporation of protoplasts and whole cells and tissues have alsobeen described (Donn et al., In Abstracts of VIIth InternationalCongress on Plant Cell and Tissue Culture IAPTC, A2-38, p 53 (1990);D'Halluin et al., Plant Cell 4:1495-1505 (1992) and Spencer et al.,Plant Mol. Biol. 24:51-61 (1994)).

Following transformation of soybean target tissues, expression of theabove-described selectable marker genes allows for preferentialselection of transformed cells, tissues and/or plants, usingregeneration and selection methods well known in the art.

The foregoing methods for transformation would typically be used forproducing a transgenic variety. The transgenic variety could then becrossed with another (non-transformed or transformed) variety in orderto produce a new transgenic variety. Alternatively, a genetic trait thathas been engineered into a particular soybean line using the foregoingtransformation techniques could be moved into another line usingtraditional backcrossing techniques that are well known in the plantbreeding arts. For example, a backcrossing approach could be used tomove an engineered trait from a public, non-elite variety into an elitevariety, or from a variety containing a foreign gene in its genome intoa variety or varieties that do not contain that gene. As used herein,“crossing” can refer to a simple X by Y cross or the process ofbackcrossing depending on the context.

Single-Gene Conversions

When the term “soybean plant” is used in the context of the presentinvention, this also includes any single gene conversions of thatvariety. The term single gene converted plant as used herein refers tothose soybean plants which are developed by a plant breeding techniquecalled backcrossing wherein essentially all of the desired morphologicaland physiological characteristics of a variety are recovered in additionto the single gene transferred into the variety via the backcrossingtechnique. Backcrossing methods can be used with the present inventionto improve or introduce a characteristic into the variety. The term“backcrossing” as used herein refers to the repeated crossing of ahybrid progeny back to the recurrent parent, i.e., backcrossing 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or more times to the recurrent parent. The parentalsoybean plant that contributes the gene for the desired characteristicis termed the nonrecurrent or donor parent. This terminology refers tothe fact that the nonrecurrent parent is used one time in the backcrossprotocol and therefore does not recur. The parental soybean plant towhich the gene or genes from the nonrecurrent parent are transferred isknown as the recurrent parent as it is used for several rounds in thebackcrossing protocol (Poehlman & Sleper, 1994; Fehr, 1987). In atypical backcross protocol, the original variety of interest (recurrentparent) is crossed to a second variety (nonrecurrent parent) thatcarries the single gene of interest to be transferred. The resultingprogeny from this cross are then crossed again to the recurrent parentand the process is repeated until a soybean plant is obtained whereinessentially all of the desired morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of the recurrent parent are recovered in the convertedplant, in addition to the single transferred gene from the nonrecurrentparent.

The selection of a suitable recurrent parent is an important step for asuccessful backcrossing procedure. The goal of a backcross protocol isto alter or substitute a single trait or characteristic in the originalvariety. To accomplish this, a single gene of the recurrent variety ismodified or substituted with the desired gene from the nonrecurrentparent, while retaining essentially all of the rest of the desiredgenetic, and therefore the desired physiological and morphological,constitution of the original variety. The choice of the particularnonrecurrent parent will depend on the purpose of the backcross; one ofthe major purposes is to add some agronomically important trait to theplant. The exact backcrossing protocol will depend on the characteristicor trait being altered to determine an appropriate testing protocol.Although backcrossing methods are simplified when the characteristicbeing transferred is a dominant allele, a recessive allele may also betransferred. In this instance it may be necessary to introduce a test ofthe progeny to determine if the desired characteristic has beensuccessfully transferred.

Many single gene traits have been identified that are not regularlyselected for in the development of a new variety but that can beimproved by backcrossing techniques. Single gene traits may or may notbe transgenic; examples of these traits include but are not limited to,male sterility, waxy starch, herbicide resistance, resistance forbacterial, fungal, or viral disease, insect resistance, male fertility,enhanced nutritional quality, industrial usage, yield stability andyield enhancement. These genes are generally inherited through thenucleus. Several of these single gene traits are described in U.S. Pat.Nos. 5,959,185; 5,973,234 and 5,977,445; the disclosures of which arespecifically hereby incorporated by reference.

Tissue Culture

Further reproduction of the variety can occur by tissue culture andregeneration. Tissue culture of various tissues of soybeans andregeneration of plants therefrom is well known and widely published. Forexample, reference may be had to Komatsuda, T. et al., Crop Sci.31:333-337 (1991); Stephens, P. A., et al., Theor. Appl. Genet. (1991)82:633-635; Komatsuda, T. et al., Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture,28:103-113 (1992); Dhir, S. et al., Plant Cell Reports (1992)11:285-289; Pandey, P. et al., Japan J. Breed. 42:1-5 (1992); andShetty, K., et al., Plant Science 81:245-251 (1992); as well as U.S.Pat. No. 5,024,944 issued Jun. 18, 1991 to Collins et al., and U.S. Pat.No. 5,008,200 issued Apr. 16, 1991 to Ranch et al. Thus, another aspectof this invention is to provide cells which upon growth anddifferentiation produce soybean plants having all the physiological andmorphological characteristics of soybean variety 73444718.

As used herein, the term “tissue culture” indicates a compositioncomprising isolated cells of the same or a different type or acollection of such cells organized into parts of a plant. Exemplarytypes of tissue cultures are protoplasts, calli, plant clumps, and plantcells that can generate tissue culture that are intact in plants orparts of plants, such as embryos, pollen, flowers, seeds, pods, leaves,stems, roots, root tips, anthers, pistils, and the like. Means forpreparing and maintaining plant tissue culture are well known in theart. By way of example, a tissue culture comprising organs has been usedto produce regenerated plants. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,959,185; 5,973,234 and5,977,445 describe certain techniques, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference.

Additional Breeding Methods

This invention also is directed to methods for producing a soybean plantby crossing a first parent soybean plant with a second parent soybeanplant wherein the first or second parent soybean plant is a soybeanplant of soybean variety 73444718. Further, both first and second parentsoybean plants can come from the soybean variety 73444718. Thus, anysuch methods using soybean variety 73444718 are part of this invention:selfing, backcrosses, hybrid production, crosses to populations, and thelike. All plants produced using soybean variety 73444718 as at least oneparent are within the scope of this invention, including those developedfrom varieties derived from soybean variety 73444718. Advantageously,the soybean variety could be used in crosses with other, different,soybean plants to produce the first generation (F1) soybean hybrid seedsand plants with superior characteristics. The variety of the inventioncan also be used for transformation where exogenous genes are introducedand expressed by the variety of the invention. Genetic variants createdeither through traditional breeding methods using soybean variety73444718 or through transformation of soybean variety 73444718 by any ofa number of protocols known to those of skill in the art are intended tobe within the scope of this invention.

The following describes breeding methods that may be used with soybeanvariety 73444718 in the development of further soybean plants. One suchembodiment is a method for developing a soybean variety 73444718 progenysoybean plant in a soybean plant breeding program comprising: obtainingthe soybean plant, or a part thereof, of variety 73444718 utilizing saidplant or plant part as a source of breeding material and selecting asoybean variety 73444718 progeny plant with molecular markers in commonwith variety 73444718 and/or with morphological and/or physiologicalcharacteristics selected from the characteristics listed in Table 1.Breeding steps that may be used in the soybean plant breeding programinclude pedigree breeding, backcrossing, mutation breeding, andrecurrent selection. In conjunction with these steps, techniques such asRFLP-enhanced selection, genetic marker enhanced selection (for exampleSSR markers) and the making of double haploids may be utilized.

Another method involves producing a population of soybean variety73444718 progeny soybean plants, comprising crossing variety 73444718with another soybean plant, thereby producing a population of soybeanplants, which, on average, derive 50% of their alleles from soybeanvariety 73444718. A plant of this population may be selected andrepeatedly selfed or sibbed with a soybean variety resulting from thesesuccessive filial generations. One embodiment of this invention is thesoybean variety produced by this method and that has obtained at least50% of its alleles from soybean variety 73444718.

One of ordinary skill in the art of plant breeding would know how toevaluate the traits of two varieties to determine if there is nosignificant difference between the two traits expressed by thosevarieties. For example, see Fehr and Walt, Principles of VarietyDevelopment, p 261-286 (1987). Thus the invention includes soybeanvariety 73444718 progeny soybean plants comprising a combination of atleast two variety 73444718 traits selected from the group consisting ofthose listed in Table 1 or the variety 73444718 combination of traitslisted in the Summary of the Invention, so that said progeny soybeanplant is not significantly different for said traits than soybeanvariety 73444718 as determined at the 5% significance level when grownin the same environmental conditions. Using techniques described herein,molecular markers may be used to identify said progeny plant as asoybean variety 73444718 progeny plant. Mean trait values may be used todetermine whether trait differences are significant, and preferably thetraits are measured on plants grown under the same environmentalconditions. Once such a variety is developed its value is substantialsince it is important to advance the germplasm base as a whole in orderto maintain or improve traits such as yield, disease resistance, pestresistance, and plant performance in extreme environmental conditions.

Progeny of soybean variety 73444718 may also be characterized throughtheir filial relationship with soybean variety 73444718, as for example,being within a certain number of breeding crosses of soybean variety73444718. A breeding cross is a cross made to introduce new geneticsinto the progeny, and is distinguished from a cross, such as a self or asib cross, made to select among existing genetic alleles. The lower thenumber of breeding crosses in the pedigree, the closer the relationshipbetween soybean variety 73444718 and its progeny. For example, progenyproduced by the methods described herein may be within 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5breeding crosses of soybean variety 73444718.

Also encompassed herein is an Essentially Derived Variety of soybeanvariety 73444718 having one, two or three physiological and/ormorphological characteristics which are different from those of soybeanvariety 73444718 and which otherwise has all the physiological andmorphological characteristics of soybean variety 73444718. A variety isreferred to as an “Essentially Derived Variety” (EDV) i.e., shall bedeemed to be essentially derived from another variety, “the initialvariety” when (i) it is predominantly derived from the initial variety,or from a variety that is itself predominantly derived from the initialvariety, while retaining the expression of the essential characteristicsthat result from the genotype or combination of genotypes of the initialvariety; (ii) it is clearly distinguishable from the initial variety;and (iii) except for the differences which result from the act ofderivation, it conforms to the initial variety in the expression of theessential characteristics that result from the genotype or combinationof genotypes of the initial variety. Thus, an EDV may be obtained forexample by the selection of a natural or induced mutant, or of asomaclonal variant, the selection of a variant individual from plants ofthe initial variety, backcrossing, or transformation by geneticengineering.

As used herein, the term “plant” includes plant cells, plantprotoplasts, plant cell tissue cultures from which soybean plants can beregenerated, plant calli, plant clumps, and plant cells that are intactin plants or parts of plants, such as embryos, pollen, ovules, flowers,pods, leaves, roots, root tips, anthers, cotyledons, hypocotyls, stems,pistils, petiole, and the like.

INDUSTRIAL USES

The seed of soybean variety 73444718, the plant produced from the seed,the hybrid soybean plant produced from the crossing of the variety withany other soybean plant, hybrid seed, and various parts of the hybridsoybean plant can be utilized for human food, livestock feed, and as araw material in industry.

The soybean is the world's leading source of vegetable oil and proteinmeal. The oil extracted from soybeans is used for cooking oil,margarine, and salad dressings. Soybean oil is composed of saturated,monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. It has a typicalcomposition of 11% palmitic, 4% stearic, 25% oleic, 50% linoleic and 9%linolenic fatty acid content (“Economic Implications of Modified SoybeanTraits Summary Report”, Iowa Soybean Promotion Board and AmericanSoybean Association Special Report 92S, May 1990). Changes in fatty acidcomposition for improved oxidative stability and nutrition areconstantly sought after. Industrial uses of soybean oil which issubjected to further processing include ingredients for paints,plastics, fibers, detergents, cosmetics, lubricants and biodiesel fuel.Soybean oil may be split, inter-esterified, sulfurized, epoxidized,polymerized, ethoxylated, or cleaved. Designing and producing soybeanoil derivatives with improved functionality and improved oliochemistryis a rapidly growing field. The typical mixture of triglycerides isusually split and separated into pure fatty acids, which are thencombined with petroleum-derived alcohols or acids, nitrogen, sulfonates,chlorine, or with fatty alcohols derived from fats and oils.

Soybean is also used as a food source for both animals and humans.Soybean is widely used as a source of protein for animal feeds forpoultry, swine and cattle. During processing of whole soybeans, thefibrous hull is removed and the oil is extracted. The remaining soybeanmeal is a combination of carbohydrates and approximately 50% protein.

For human consumption soybean meal is made into soybean flour which isprocessed to protein concentrates used for meat extenders or specialtypet foods. Production of edible protein ingredients from soybean offersa healthier, less expensive replacement for animal protein in meats aswell as in dairy-type products.

DEPOSIT INFORMATION

Applicant will make a deposit of at least seeds of soybean variety73444718 disclosed herein with the under Accession No. Access to thisdeposit will be available during the pendency of the application to theCommissioner of Patents and Trademarks and persons determined by theCommissioner to be entitled thereto upon request. The deposit will bemaintained for a period of 30 years, or 5 years after the most recentrequest, or for the enforceable life of the patent, whichever is longer,and will be replaced if it becomes nonviable during that period.Applicant does not waive any rights granted under this patent or underthe Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 2321 et seq.).

Definitions

In the description and tables which follow, a number of terms are used.In order to provide a clear and consistent understanding of thespecification and claims, the following definitions are provided:

Allele. An allele is any of one or more alternative forms of a genewhich relate to one trait or characteristic. In a diploid cell ororganism, the two alleles of a given gene occupy corresponding loci on apair of homologous chromosomes.

Appearance. A visual observation rating based on a scale of 1-9 as tothe variety's overall appearance as far as adaptability, plant height,lodging, plant health, etc., at the time of rating as one would want itto look to be an excellent variety. A value of 1 indicates a very poorand not adapted variety while a value of 9 indicates a very nice,awesome looking variety with a lot of pods and perceived yield from avisual observation.

Backcrossing. Backcrossing is a process in which a breeder repeatedlycrosses hybrid progeny back to one of the parents, for example, afirst-generation hybrid F₁ with one of the parental genotypes of the F₁hybrid.

Bacterial Pustule: Rated on a scale from 1 to 9 with 1 indicating nobacterial pustule found in the rated plot and a value of 9 indicatingall plants with infection by bacterial Pustule in the rated plot.

Brown Stem Rot. This is a visual disease score from 1 to 9 comparing allgenotypes in a given test. The score is based on leaf symptoms ofyellowing and necrosis caused by brown stem rot. Visual scores rangefrom a score of 9, which indicates no symptoms, to a score of 1 whichindicates severe symptoms of leaf yellowing and necrosis.

Cotyledon. A cotyledon is a type of seed leaf. The cotyledon containsthe food storage tissues of the seed.

Embryo. The embryo is the small plant contained within a mature seed.

Emergence. This score indicates the ability of the seed to emerge whenplanted 3″ deep in sand at a controlled temperature of 25 degrees C. Thenumber of plants that emerge each day are counted. Based on this data,each genotype is given a 1 to 9 score based on its rate of emergence andpercent of emergence. A score of 9 indicates an excellent rate andpercent of emergence, an intermediate score of 5 indicates averageratings and a 1 score indicates a very poor rate and percent ofemergence.

Frogeye Leaf Spot (fels). Primarily a foliar disease of soybean causedby the fungus Cercospora sojina. Lesions on leaves are circular toangular spots which vary in size (less than 1 mm to 5 mm in diameter).The lesions are gray to brown spots surrounded by a narrow red or darkreddish-brown margin. The disease can be seedborne. The rating scale isfrom 1 to 9 with 1 indicating no Frogeye present and 9 indicating theleaf is entirely covered and the leaves are dropping off the plant (andpods also), very bad.

Hilum. This refers to the scar left on the seed that marks the placewhere the seed was attached to the pod prior to the seed beingharvested.

Hypocotyl. A hypocotyl is the portion of an embryo or seedling betweenthe cotyledons and the root. Therefore, it can be considered atransition zone between shoot and root.

Iron Chlorosis on Calcareous Soil. When conducting a test for salt oruptake of salt, there are three reactions: a) Excluder: The plant takesup the salt, but it is not translocated up through the plant to theleaves and the plant will survive normally in the presence of high saltin the soil. b) Includer: The plants translocate the salt up through thevascular pathways to the leaves resulting in scorching of the leaves andlater death and defoliation. c) Segregator: Some plants are Excludersand some plants are Includers. This variety segregates for thecharacter.

Iron-Deficiency Chlorosis. Plants are scored 1 to 9 based on visualobservations. A score of 9 means no stunting of the plants or yellowingof the leaves and a score of 1 indicates the plants are dead or dyingcaused by iron-deficiency chlorosis, a score of 5 means plants haveintermediate health with some leaf yellowing.

Lodging Resistance. Lodging is rated on a scale of 1 to 5. A score of 1indicates that almost all plants are erect and standing up. A score of 2indicates all plants are leaning slightly or a few plants are lying onthe ground. A score of 3 indicates all plants leaning moderately and/orseveral plants lying on the ground. A score of 4 indicates all plantsleaning considerably and/or a lot of plants lying on the ground and ascore of 5 indicates all plants lying on the ground.

Maturity Date. Plants are considered mature when 95% of the pods havereached their mature color. The number of days is calculated from theplanting date.

Maturity Group. This refers to an agreed-on industry division of groupsof varieties based on zones in which they are adapted, primarilyaccording to day length or latitude. They consist of very long-daylength varieties (Groups 000, 00, 0), and extend to very short-daylength varieties (Groups VII, VIII, IX, X).

Multi-yield. Average yield across all the locations of the varieties inthe trial.

Relative Maturity (RM). The term relative maturity is a numerical valuethat is assigned to a soybean variety based on comparisons with thematurity values of other varieties. The number preceding the decimalpoint in the RM refers to the maturity group. The number following thedecimal point refers to the relative earliness or lateness within eachmaturity group. For example, a 3.0 is an early group III variety, whilea 3.9 is a late group III variety.

Oil or oil percent. Soybean seeds contain a considerable amount of oil.Oil is measured by NIR spectrophotometry and is reported on an as ispercentage basis.

Oleic Acid Percent. Oleic acid is one of the five most abundant fattyacids in soybean seeds. It is measured by gas chromatography and isreported as a percent of the total oil content.

Palmitic Acid Percent. Palmitic acid is one of the five most abundantfatty acids in soybean seeds. It is measured by gas chromatography andis reported as a percent of the total oil content.

Phytophthora Root Rot (Prr). Phytophthora root rot is rated on a scaleof 0 to 9, with a score of 0 being the best or highest tolerance (nodead plants) ranging to a score of 9 which indicates the plants have notolerance to Phytophthora and are dead.

Phenotypic Score. The Phenotypic Score is a visual rating of generalappearance of the variety. All visual traits are considered in the scoreincluding healthiness, standability, appearance and freedom fromdisease. Ratings are scored from 1 being poor to 9 being excellent.

Plant Height. Average length in inches of mature plants from the groundto the tip of the main stem.

Pod. This refers to the fruit of a soybean plant. It consists of thehull or shell (pericarp) and the soybean seeds.

Pod and Stem Blight. Also known as Diaporthe phaseolorum var. sojae. Podand Stem Blight results in poor seed quality and has symptoms of anarrangement of black fruiting structures in linear rows on the stems.Infected seeds crack and shrivel and are often covered with white mold.These seeds fail to germinate or produce weak seedlings withbrownish-red pinpoint lesions on the cotyledons.

Protein Percent. Soybean seeds contain a considerable amount of protein.Protein is generally measured by NIR spectrophotometry and is reportedon an as is percentage basis.

Pubescence. This refers to a covering of very fine hairs closelyarranged on the leaves, stems and pods of the soybean plant.

Purple Seed Stain. Also known as Cercospora kikuchii. A fungus thatcauses a pink or light to dark purple discoloration of the mature seedcoat. The size of the discoloration may vary from a small spot to theentire seed surface. Affected seed may be cracked, rough and dull.

Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL). Quantitative trait loci (QTL) refer togenetic loci that control to some degree numerically representabletraits that are usually continuously distributed.

Regeneration. Regeneration refers to the development of a plant fromtissue culture.

Seed Protein Peroxidase Activity. Seed protein peroxidase activityrefers to a chemical taxonomic technique to separate varieties based onthe presence or absence of the peroxidase enzyme in the seed coat. Thereare two types of soybean varieties: those having high peroxidaseactivity (dark red color) and those having low peroxidase activity (nocolor).

Seed Yield (Bushels/Acre). The yield in bushels/acre is the actual yieldof the grain at harvest.

Seeds per Pound. Soybean seeds vary in seed size, therefore, the numberof seeds required to make up one pound also varies. This affects thepounds of seed required to plant a given area and can also impact enduses.

Shattering. The amount of pod dehiscence prior to harvest. Poddehiscence involves seeds falling from the pods to the soil. This is avisual score from 1 to 9 comparing all genotypes within a given test. Ascore of 9 means pods have not opened and no seeds have fallen out. Ascore of 5 indicates approximately 50% of the pods have opened, withseeds falling to the ground and a score of 1 indicates 100% of the podsare opened.

Single Gene Converted (Conversion). Single gene converted (conversion)plants refers to plants which are developed by a plant breedingtechnique called backcrossing wherein essentially all of the desiredmorphological and physiological characteristics of a variety arerecovered in addition to the single gene transferred into the varietyvia the backcrossing technique or via genetic engineering.

Southern Root Knot Nematode. Also known as Meloidogyne incognita. One ofthe most common nematode pest of soybeans in the southern states.Symptoms include severe stunting and formation of galls or knots on theroots. Also, plants may appear to suffer nutrient deficiencies and maywilt during hot periods of the day. Nematode damage reduces yield andlowers quality.

Soybean Mosaic Virus. Soybean mosaic virus is the most widelydistributed virus diseases of soybeans. The leaves of infected plantsare distorted and narrower than normal and develop dark green swellingsalong the veins. Infected leaflets are puckered and curl down at themargin. Plants infected early in the season are stunted, with shortenedpetioles and internodes. Diseased seed pods are often smaller,flattened, less pubescence, and curved more acutely than pods of healthyplants. In addition, infected seed are mottled brown or black, usuallysmaller than seeds from healthy plants, and germination may be reduced.

Stem Canker (sc). Caused by D. phaseolorum var. meridionalis. The firstsymptoms occur during the early reproductive stages as small, reddishbrown lesions, usually near a lower leaf node. As the season progresses,the lesions expand longitudinally to form cankers which are slightlysunken. The stem lesions become long and the leaf symptoms develop withcharacteristic interveinal chlorosis and necrosis, but no wilting.Foliar symptoms and plant death are caused in part by a phytotoxin.Rated “resistant” or “susceptible” if from disease in nursery. If fromfield observations it is rated on a scale from 0 to 9, where a value of0 indicates no stem canker and a value of 9 indicates plants are dead.

Sudden Death Syndrome (sds). Caused by the soilborne fungus, Fusariumsolani f. sp. glycines. The symptoms first appear on leaves asscattered, interveinal chlorotic spots, which may become necrotic orenlarge and form streaks. Leaflets detach from the petioles. Theroot-mass of infected plants are reduced and discolored and precedefoliar symptoms. The infected plants often have increased flower and podabortion and reduced seed size. Rated on a scale from 1 to 9 with 1indicating no symptoms and 9 indicating plants dying or dead.

Virus. Rated on a scale from 1 to 9 with 1 indicating no virus noted orfound in the plot rated and 9 indicating all plants affected in the plotrated.

Wildfire. A type of bacterial leaf blight also known as Pseudomonastabaci. The symptoms of Wildfire include light brown spots of variablesize and shape, which are surrounded by a broad yellow halo. Smallerdark brown to black lesions sometimes form without the halo. During wetweather, the lesions expand to form large dead areas that eventuallytear away resulting in a tattered appearance.

That which is claimed:
 1. A seed of soybean variety 73444718, wherein arepresentative sample seed of said soybean variety is deposited underAccession No. ______.
 2. A soybean plant, or a part thereof, produced bygrowing the seed of claim
 1. 3. A tissue culture produced fromprotoplasts or cells from the plant of claim 2, wherein said cells orprotoplasts are produced from a plant part, wherein the plant part is aleaf, pollen, an ovule, an embryo, a cotyledon, a hypocotyl, ameristematic cell, a root, a root tip, a pistil, an anther, a flower, aseed, a shoot, a stem, a pod or a petiole.
 4. A soybean plantregenerated from the tissue culture of claim 3, wherein said soybeanplant has all of the physiological and morphological characteristics ofthe plant of soybean variety
 73444718. 5. A method for producing asoybean seed, comprising crossing two soybean plants and harvesting theresultant soybean seed, wherein at least one soybean plant is thesoybean plant of claim
 2. 6. An F1 soybean seed produced by the methodof claim
 5. 7. An F1 soybean plant, or a part thereof, produced bygrowing said seed of claim
 6. 8. The method of claim 5, wherein at leastone of said soybean plants further comprises at least one transgene. 9.A method of producing an herbicide resistant soybean plant, wherein saidmethod comprises transforming the plant of claim 2 with a transgeneconferring herbicide resistance.
 10. A herbicide resistant soybean plantproduced by the method of claim 9, wherein the transgene confersresistance to sulfonylurea, imidazolinone, glufosinate, phenoxyproprionic acid, L-phosphinothricin, cyclohexone, cyclohexanedione,triazine, benzonitrile, an N-(tetrazol-4-yl),N-(triazol-3-yl)arylcarboxamide, an N-(1,2,5-oxadiazol-3-yl)benzamide,tembotrione, sulcotrione, topramezone, bicyclopyrone, tefuryltrione,isoxaflutole, pyrasulfotole, or mesotrione, wherein the soybean planthas all the physiological and morphological characteristics of soybeanvariety 73444718 when grown under the same environmental conditions. 11.A method of producing a pest or insect resistant soybean plant, whereinsaid method comprises transforming the plant of claim 2 with a transgeneconferring pest or insect resistance.
 12. A pest or insect resistantsoybean plant produced by the method of claim 11, wherein the plant hasall of the physiological characteristics of soybean variety 73444718when grown under the same environmental conditions.
 13. The soybeanplant of claim 12, wherein the transgene encodes a Bacillusthuringiensis (Bt) endotoxin.
 14. A method of producing a diseaseresistant soybean plant, wherein said method comprises transforming theplant of claim 2 with a transgene conferring disease resistance.
 15. Adisease resistant soybean plant produced by the method of claim 14,wherein the soybean plant has all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of soybean variety 73444718 when grown under the sameenvironmental conditions.
 16. A method of producing a soybean plant withmodified fatty acid metabolism or modified carbohydrate metabolism,wherein the method comprises transforming the plant of claim 2 with atransgene encoding a phytase, fructosyltransferase, levansucrase,α-amylase, invertase, starch branching enzyme, or encoding an antisensegene of stearyl-ACP desaturase.
 17. A soybean plant having modifiedfatty acid metabolism or modified carbohydrate metabolism produced bythe method of claim 16, wherein the soybean plant has all of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of soybean variety73444718 when grown under the same environmental conditions.
 18. Amethod of introducing a desired trait into soybean variety 73444718,wherein the method comprises: (a) crossing a 73444718 plant, wherein arepresentative sample of seed is deposited under Accession No. ______,with a plant of another soybean variety that comprises a desired traitto produce progeny plants wherein the desired trait is male sterility,herbicide resistance, insect resistance, modified fatty acid metabolism,modified carbohydrate metabolism, modified seed yield, modified oilpercent, modified protein percent, modified lodging resistance, modifiedshattering, modified iron-deficiency chlorosis, or resistance tobacterial disease, fungal disease, or viral disease; (b) selecting oneor more progeny plants that have the desired trait to produce selectedprogeny plants; (c) crossing the selected progeny plants with the73444718 plant to produce backcross progeny plants; (d) selecting forbackcross progeny plants that have the desired trait and all of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of soybean variety73444718 listed in Table 1; and (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) two ormore times in succession to produce selected third or higher backcrossprogeny plants that comprise the desired trait and all of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of soybean variety73444718 listed in Table 1, when grown under the same environmentalconditions.
 19. A soybean plant produced by the method of claim 18,wherein the soybean plant has the desired trait and all thephysiological and morphological characteristics of soybean variety73444718 when grown under the same environmental conditions.
 20. Thesoybean plant of claim 19, wherein the desired trait is herbicideresistance and the resistance is conferred to sulfonylurea,imidazolinone, glufosinate, phenoxy proprionic acid, L-phosphinothricin,cyclohexone, cyclohexanedione, triazine, benzonitrile, anN-(tetrazol-4-yl)- or N-(triazol-3-yl)arylcarboxamide, anN-(1,2,5-oxadiazol-3-yl)benzamide, tembotrione, sulcotrione,topramezone, bicyclopyrone, tefuryltrione, isoxaflutole, pyrasulfotole,or mesotrione.
 21. The soybean plant of claim 19, wherein the desiredtrait is insect resistance conferred by a transgene encoding a Bacillusthuringiensis endotoxin.
 22. The soybean plant of claim 19, wherein thedesired trait is modified fatty acid metabolism or modified carbohydratemetabolism and said desired trait is conferred by a nucleic acidencoding a phytase, fructosyltransferase, levansucrase, α-amylase,invertase, starch branching enzyme, or encoding an antisense gene ofstearyl-ACP desaturase.
 23. A method of producing a commodity plantproduct, comprising obtaining the plant of claim 2, or a part thereof,wherein the commodity plant product is protein concentrate, proteinisolate, soybean hulls, meal, flour, or oil and producing said commodityplant product therefrom.
 24. A plant, or a part thereof, obtained byvegetative reproduction from the plant, or a part thereof, of claim 2,said plant, or a part thereof, expressing all the physiological andmorphological characteristics of soybean variety
 73444718. 25. A plantobtained by vegetative reproduction from the plant, or a part thereof,of claim 7, said plant expressing all the physiological andmorphological characteristics of soybean variety 73444718 or a partthereof.
 26. A soybean plant, or part thereof, having all of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of soybean variety73444718, wherein a representative sample seed of said soybean varietyis deposited under Accession No. ______.